Why can’t you judge a belief system by its adherents?

I think you can.  A couple of days ago, an Illinois Representative berated a guy giving testimony before the State House because he’s an atheist:

“Get out of that seat . . . You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.”

Reasonable people I know who are religious claim that people like this are on the fringe of their social forest. I’m not so sure about that. I think they’re more common than people think.  The Council for Secular Humanism sent out a news release about it.  Not included in the linked version is this link to the full audio, thanks to Richard Dawkins.net.  If you’re a believer, how do you feel about her rant?  Do you agree? Disagree?  Why?